There won’t be an online audio sermon this week, sorry, there was a malfunction in the recording.  Yet, we are continuing with our daily study of 1 Peter.  Today we have 1 Peter 1:22-25

Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the Word of the Lord endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.

Though there are undoubtedly hundreds of observations to make here, I am amazed by one simple and powerful truth in these verses.  Namely, that the way for us to love one another fervently is for us to be born again.  It sounds so simple, but Peter here connects these two realities in a beautiful way such that it seems almost absurd for anyone to think they can be born again and then remain in isolation and inactivity in relation to the church.  No, if someone is born again through the “incorruptible” seed, through the word of God, the result is not only a pure cleansing, but that he or she would love others fervently.

I love how this reminds us that though loving one another is difficult, and frustrating, and oftentimes complicated, we are able to do it because of the abundant power afforded to us by God through faith.  Why should we love each other?  Because our souls have been purified through faith, because we are born again, because Christ is incorruptible, and because the Word of God lives and abides forever!  When love becomes difficult, when those around us don’t even want to be loved, when our enemies show us hate, and when we feel like giving up, we can continue loving for these unstoppable and untouchable reasons.  Let us be about loving each other fervently!